“I always said I would take care of him for you.” I take Holden’s hands again. “You don’t need me to anymore.Youcan.”
I kept my word to Dex and keep myself out of as much danger as possible. That doesn’t mean I hid behind my fancy gates; I still go out on missions. But for the most part, I let the guys lead it, or we send Ghost and Caden out with their crews. Ghost and Caden were welcomed officially into the Poletti family and have fit in well.
I walk over and grab an ammonia capsule to wake him up. “The choice is yours, Holden,” I say when I get back to him.
Holden turns to look at his uncle. “This motherfucker sold me without a care.” He holds out his hand, and I lay the capsule in his palm. Holden is more than capable of doing this. He goes on every mission with us and loves every second of it. He is worse than Gage sometimes with how excited he gets.
He snaps it open, waving it under Winston’s nose. His uncle jerks back and looks around wildly. “Where am I?” He doesn’t even recognize Holden anymore.
“Hell, asshole. The same place you sent me,” Holden says, and I watch the recognition dawn on Winston’s face at Holden’s voice.
“Holden?” he whispers.
“Yeah,” Holden grunts. “Didn’t expect to see me again, did you? Thought that freak would kill me?”
“I…I…” Winston stutters.
“Unlucky for you, I had an angel save me.” Holden steps up closer. “Also, unlucky for you, she’s the angel of death.” A giggle escapes me, and Winston’s eyes snap to me. Holden steps right infront of me, blocking his view. “No,” Holden growls. “You don’t get to look at her.”
“What’re you going to do?” Winston asks, already figuring out this wasn’t a chit-chat.
“When I first walked in here, I was going to tell you everything that happened to me. But then I realized you wouldn’t give a fuck because all you care about is yourself.” Holden shoves his hands in his pockets. “My beautiful soon-to-be wife knew I needed to kill you. I needed to rid this world of you.” He takes the knife I offer him. We found out not too long ago Holden was very handy with knives. “You took a scared as fuck sixteen-year-old kid and handed him over to a monster.” Holden steps even closer. “I’m not that scared sixteen-year-old kid anymore.” Holden pauses. “I’m the monster now. Any last words?” he asks, pointing the knife at him.
“I’m so…” Winston starts to say. Holden jams the knife right into his jugular, killing him instantly.
“I don’t give a fuck,” Holden mutters, jerking the knife out. Blood spurts in a wide arc, soaking the front of Holden’s shirt. He looks down and then looks at me. “I guess he did get the last word.”
A laugh bubbles out. “No.” I wrap my arms around his neck, not caring about the blood. “He will take what you said to hell.” I peck his lips. “Now we both need to get cleaned up,” I say, waggling my eyebrows.
Holden grins. “Let’s go, Bright eyes.”
He pulls my hand toward the door that will take us into the house, turns, and flings the knife. It sticks perfectly, right in Winston’s heart. Holden was right; he isn’t that scared kid anymore. He’s a man that not only cares for me, but he also cares for his family.
The next step is getting married.
“You look beautiful,”Katherine says, pulling me into a hug, tears in both our eyes. “Oh no! Don’t smudge,” she laughs, fanning my face.Bridget just got done fixing it for the fourth time because I can’t stop crying.
I take a deep breath. “I’m good,” I lie. I’ve said that every time.
I turn around and look at myself in the mirror. My hair is half up with huge bouncy curls and held together with the diamond hair clip Ryder’s mom wore on her wedding day. That made me cry the first time when Rocco handed it to me. My makeup is understated, with a slight smokey eye, blush, and pink lipstick. I have the necklace on that Holden got me for their proposal; I never took it off.
The dress took me months to find, but I knew it was the one when I did. It is a strapless princess style with a bodice top then flared out at the waist. There are diamond accents sewn all over it with a long train. I love it and hope the guys do too.
“Alessa,” Shawna says softly from the door when I turn around, her eyes well with tears.
“Oh, please don’t, Shawna,” I laugh, fanning my face again.
“You look like a princess,” she whispers, then clears her throat. “Someone would like to see you.” I frown. “It’s Ms. Pennington.”
“Oh,” I say, rubbing my palms on my dress. Ms. Pennington is Clara, Gage’s mom. “Send her in.” When I found her, she was in Tennessee and flies in frequently to see Gage.
“Oh my goodness,” Clara says, stepping in. “You really do look like a princess.”
“Thank you,” I say softly.
Her eyes well with tears, and Katherine starts fanning my face. “I’m so glad Gage found someone like you.”
“I’m glad I found him.” Without him, I honestly don’t think I would have what I do. He was the one who pushed me to go after what I wanted.
